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The University of New Hampshire surveyed 609 likely voters by cellphone and landline from Aug. 7-17. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent.

President Barack Obama’s slipping popularity is an anchor dragging down the incumbent, the pollster found. Obama’s approval rating is 37 percent, with 59 percent disapproving. Brown leads 71-17 among those who disapprove of the president.

Brown, who moved to New Hampshire last December after losing to Elizabeth Warren in 2012, still faces a Republican primary on Sept. 9. WMUR found that Shaheen would lead both former Sen. Bob Smith and ex-state Sen. Jim Rubens by 14 points in a head to head matchup.

The poll found 60 percent of those polled have not definitively decided whom they will vote for — a suggestion that this could be a very fluid race.

Shaheen, the first woman in U.S. history to be elected governor and senator, has a reservoir of goodwill that could help insulate her if 2014 becomes a Republican wave. She’s viewed favorably by 48 percent of likely voters and unfavorably by 36 percent.

The closeness of the race is all the more stunning when you consider that Brown remains slightly underwater on personal favorability. Overall, he’s viewed positively by 36 percent and negatively by 38 percent of those polled.

But Brown leads among independents by 5 points — 40 percent to 35 percent — even though 10 percent more of independents view him negatively than positively. That means there are a statistically significant number of people who don’t really like Brown but are voting for him because they are angry at Obama, Shaheen and the direction of the country.

The Shaheen campaign responded to the poll by noting that $3.5 million has been spent on attack ads against her by outside groups.

“We’ve been ready for a competitive race since Day One, and we are running the kind of grass-roots campaign that New Hampshire deserves,” said Shaheen campaign manager Mike Vlacich.

Republicans said liberal interest groups have also spent heavily against Brown — most recently billionaire Tom Steyer’s group NextGen Climate, which went on the air with an attack ad Thursday, as well as the League of Conservation Voters.